Gyrostatic stabilizer



Jan. 8, 1952 ERIKSSQN 2,581,846

GYROSTATIC STABILIZER Filed Jan. 21, 1947 J /NVE/YTOR HER ERTfR/ 5/ hwwmPatented Jan. 8, 1 952 UNITED STATES PATENT '0F;FICE I 2,581,846,] 1 IGYRosTA'rIo srmm'uzsn Herbert Erilrsson, -Vasteras, Sweden, ,as'si gnorto Allma'nna .Svenjska Elektriska Aktiebol'age't, Vasterasy Sweden, acorporation'of Sweden Application January 21, mam-swarm. 728,379 InSweden January 25, 1946 J- The present invention refers to a gyrostaticstabilizer of the kind comprising one or more rapidly rotating bodies(gyroscopes) which are journa'lled in a frame or the like on which they.exert'a. torque when its 'posi'tionfis altered, and aservo motor which'is started at an angular displacement of the frame withrespect to itssurroundin'gs and which adjusts a heavier structure which may supportthe object, for instance an instrument or a gun, the position of whichshall be made independent of certain movements of its surroundings forinstance of the rolling of a ship on which it is mounted. .In thehitherto known constructions of such apparatus, it has been necessary toprovide the servo-motor with a rather complicated compensatingmechanism, which has interrupted its adjusting motion when the heavierstructure had been brought into the desired position. According to thepresent invention, the compensation is effected in a much more simpleway of mounting the operating device of the servo-motor in such way onthe heavier structure that the adjusting movement of the said structureeffects the compensation.

Three forms of the invention are diagrammatically illustrated inperspective views in Figs. 1-3 of the accompanying drawing.

In all the forms illustrated, the gyro-stabilizer is intended tocompensate only the movements around a horizontal axis, for instance thelongitudinal axis of a ship (rolling), while the movements around ahorizontal axis at right angles thereto (pitching) are not compensated.A compensation of such movements may of course be effected in anentirely analogous way. Said lastmentioned axis is supposed to besubstantially parallel to the plane of the drawing.

In Fig. 1 the gyroscope I rotates around a vertical axis 2 journalled ina vertical frame 3. The latter is pivoted by means of a pair ofhorizontal transverse journals 4 in a frame 5 which in its turn ispivoted by means of longitudinal journals 5.

The movements now described are utilized for influencing the controllingmember of a servomotor which moves a heavier structure so as to preventits partaking in the tilting in the transverse direction, for instancethe rolling of a ship. According to the present invention, thecontrolling member of the servomotor is carried by the said heavierstructure I in such manner that a compensation of the servomotor isautomatically obtained as soon as the said heavier structure hasoccupied its desired position, for instance parallel to the frame 5, sothat the controlling 3 Claims. (or 71-522) member is then restored toitsinactive position. TheJcon'trolling member; for instance a rotatableslide inside the cylinder 8 is moved from the frame 5 for instance bymeans'o f a link rod 9 and an arm .I'll'in such manner that the passagethrough the cylinder is opened as soon as the parallelism between theframe 5 and the structure 1 is disturbed but i'sclosed again as soon asthe said parallelism hasfb'eenrestored.

j Conduits jll lead from the control cylinder 8 to the servom'oitorwhichconsists of a cylinder I2 with .pis o sfl r t ta l he e n. O e b tm foff the' cylinder is, removed in] the" figure to show the pistons."'Thelatter are mounted on a shaft M which is stationary with respect tothe surrounding body, for instance a ship, while the cylinder isrotatable together with the structure I which is also rotatable togetherwith a journal I5.

In the construction illustrated, the journals 6 of the frame 6 aredirectly mounted in the heavier structure I. This is generally the mostsimple way of mounting, but the frame 5 may also be mounted in anotherstructure while a compensation is still obtained as soon as the frame 5and the structure I are in their normal mutual position.

Fig. 2 differs from Fig. 1 essentially in two respects. First, twovertical frames 3 are mounted in the frame 5, each frame 3 having agyroscope I rotating about a vertical axis 2. The gyroscopes I areintended to rotate in opposite directions, and are therefore alsoinclined in opposite directions around their transverse axis when theframe 5 is tilted around its longitudinal axis. Their transversejournals 4 are connected by means of toothed arcs It so as to cooperatewhen inclined.

Further, in Fig. 2, the frame 5 is connected to the heavier frame orstructure 1 by an elastic device consisting of bars I! hinged to thestructure I and held together by a spring I8, said bars embracing theframe 5. The structure 1 therefore is forced to partake in the movementsof the frame 5 by a force limited by the initial cal frame 3 aredirectly mounted in the heavier frame or structure I, and the lightframe is theresensitive to such a tilting movement than the apparatusaccording to Fig. 1, but it is not suitable for stabilizing structuresof so large moments of inertia as the apparatus of Fig. 1. Theproperties of the form shown in Fig. 2 are in this respect intermediarybetween Figs. 1 and '3.

I claim as my invention:

1. A gyrostatic stabilizer comprising a gimbal said gimbal frame andtiltable about an axis perpendicular to the axis of said gimbal frame, aheavy structure tiltableabout an axis parallel to. the axis of saidlight frame, a servo-motor carried by said heavy structure and servingto tilt said structure, and means for operating said servo-motor underthe influence of the tilting motion of said gimbal frame.

2. A gyrostatic stabilizer comprising a gimbal frame tiltable about anaxis, a gyroscope rotatingly mounted therein, a light frame carryingsaid gimbal frame and tiltable about an axis perpendicular to the axisof said gimbal frame, a heavy structure tiltable about an axis parallelto the axis of said light frame, a servo-motor carframe tiltable aboutan axis, a gyroscope rotatingly mounted therein, a light framecarryinggimbal frame.

ried by said heavy structure, means for operating said servo-motor underthe influence of the tilting motion of said gi-mbal frame, a fixedsupport, said servo-motor comprising a cylinder secured to said heavystructure, and pistons angularly displaceable therein and secured tosaid fixed support. V

3. A gyrostatic stabilizer comprising a gimbal frame tiltable about anaxis, a gyroscope rotatingly mounted therein, a heavy structure tiltableabout an axis perpendicular to that of said gimbal frame, a servo-motorcarried by said heavy structure, andmeans comprising a closed hydraulicsystem for operating said servo-motor under the influence of the tiltingmotion of said HERBERT Enmsson.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

